Flattemp

In this article

In Windows Server 2008 R2, Terminal Services was renamed Remote Desktop Services. To find out what's new in this version, see What’s New in Remote Desktop Services on the Windows Server TechCenter.

Syntax

flattemp {/query | /enable | /disable}

Parameters

Parameter

Description

/query

Queries the current setting.

/enable

Enables flat temporary folders. Users will share the temporary folder unless the temporary folder resides in the user’s home folder.

/disable

Disables flat temporary folders. Each user’s temporary folder will reside in a separate folder (determined by the user’s Session ID).

/?

Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

The flattemp command is only available when you have installed the Terminal Server role service on a computer running Windows Server® 2008 or the RD Session Host role service on a computer running Windows Server 2008 R2.

You must have administrative credentials to run flattemp.

After each user has a unique temporary folder, use flattemp /enable to enable flat temporary folders.

The default method for creating temporary folders for multiple users (usually pointed to by the TEMP and TMP environment variables) is to create subfolders in the \Temp folder, by using the logonID as the subfolder name. For example, if the TEMP environment variable points to C:\Temp, the temporary folder assigned to the user logonID 4 is C:\Temp\4. Using flattemp, you can point directly to the \Temp folder and prevent subfolders from forming. This is useful when you want the user temporary folders to be contained in home folders, whether on an RD Session Host server local drive or on a shared network drive. You should use the flattemp /enable command only when each user has a separate temporary folder.

You might encounter application errors if the user's temporary folder is on a network drive. This occurs when the shared network drive becomes momentarily inaccessible on the network. Because the temporary files of the application are either inaccessible or out of synchronization, it responds as if the disk has stopped. Moving the temporary folder to a network drive is not recommended. The default is to keep temporary folders on the local hard disk. If you experience unexpected behavior or disk-corruption errors with certain applications, stabilize your network or move the temporary folders back to the local hard disk.

If you disable using separate temporary folders per-session, flattemp settings are ignored. This option is set in the Remote Desktop Services Configuration tool.